3RD Dr. R. U.

SINGH MEMORIAL
NATIONAL MOOT COURT COMPETITION
14- 16 FEBRUARY 2020

EDITED MOOT PROPOSITION

VENUE:
Faculty of Law
University of Lucknow
New Campus,
Jankipuram Extention, Lucknow-226031

ORGANIZED BY:

Lucknow University Moot Court Association

(LUMA)
 1. Asgard is a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic that follows federalism
where by power is shared between Union and States. The Constitution of Asgard came
into existence when colonial Asgard was divided into Union of Asgard and Republic
of Titan. When it was granted independence there were 526 princely states in Asgard,
they were allowed to be a part of either Asgard or Titan or to remain independent and
exercise their right to self-determination.
2. There were two prominent religions in the Colonial Asgard, Marvelism and Gothism.
The partition took place on the prevalence of these religions in the two countries.
Marvelism was a majority religion in Asgard and Gothism in Titan. After partition
most of the princely states became either a part of Asgard or Titan, however a handful
remained sovereign.
3. Among the princely states which preferred to be independent was the State of Vormir
which shared borders with the Asgard and Titan. The ruler of the princely state of
Vormir was a Marvel while maximum population of the state followed Gothism
therefore the ruler exercised its right to self -determination and decided to remain
sovereign.
4. Soon there was an invasion in Vormir by the tribesmen and the army from Titan, the
ruler sought the help of Asgard, which in turn led to the accession of Vormir to Asgard
by signing of the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947. Asgardian and Titan
forces thus fought their first war over Vormir in 1947-48. Soon Asgard referred the
dispute to the United Nations. It asked Titan and Asgard to remove its troops conduct a
"free and fair" plebiscite to allow people of Vormir to decide their future. Titan
ignored the UN mandate and continued fighting. On January 1, 1949, a ceasefire was
agreed and the part of the state of Vormir which was captured by Titan was declared to
be belonging to the Union of Asgard. Both Asgard and Vormir also formed a treaty
that they will solve their disputes mutually over Vormir.
5. The accession of Vormir led to inclusion of Article 370 in Part XXI of the Constitution
of Asgard under the heading ‘Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions’.
According to this article, except for defence, foreign affairs, and communications it
restricted the Parliament’s legislative powers in respect of Vormir. For extending a
central law on subjects included in the Instrument of Accession (IoA), mere
“consultation” with the state government was needed. But for extending it to other
matters, “concurrence” of the state government was mandatory. Thus, the state's
residents live under a separate set of laws.

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 6. In 1952 Vormir leaders discussed their relationship with the Asgard which led to a
comprehensive Sakaar Agreement. The agreement extended Asgardian citizenship to
the 'State subjects' of Vormir. In the light of agreement 'Article 35A' was added to the
Constitution of Asgard by the Constitution (Application to Vormir) Order, 1954. It
extended several provisions of the Asgardian constitution to Vormir and under the
Article all identified residents are issued a permanent resident certificate, which
entitles them to special benefits related to employment, scholarships, ownership and
settlement.
7. The Article 35A is criticised for it creates a "class within a class of Asgardian citizens"
and it was included by the executive head without any discussion in the Parliament.
Further it only appears in the appendix of the Constitution of Asgard. However, legal
experts are of the view that the article cannot be revoked as it was issued in exercise of
the powers conferred by Article 370 (1) of the Asgard Constitution, which allows the
state to enjoy autonomy.
8. In the year 1956, Vormir adopted its Constitution and defined itself as an integral part
of Asgard under Part II. This left no possibility of a plebiscite. Asgard changed the
titles of Prime Minister and Sadr-i-Riyasat to Chief Minister and Governor,
respectively.
9. Article 370 was supposed to be interpreted as temporary in the sense that the Vormir
Constituent Assembly had a right to modify/delete/retain it and it shall continue until a
plebiscite happens as per the UN guidelines. The State's constituent assembly
dissolved itself on 25 January 1957 without recommending either abrogation or
amendment of the Article. Although the Article 370(3) permits deletion by a
Presidential Order. Such an order, however, is to be preceded by the concurrence of
Vormir’s Constituent Assembly. Since the Assembly was dissolved the future of the
Article became uncertain. Uncertainty prompted an incessant situation in the State and
tension between the Titan, Asgard and Vormir. In the following time Vormir
witnessed a steady rise of militant outfits, several unstable governments, arrests and
violent killings.
10. Ever since the Odin Janata Party (OJP), a prominent political party in Asgard came
to power at the Centre in 2014, scraping of Special Status of Vormir was one of the
goals in their manifesto. In 2016 the party formed a coalition government with
Vormir’s Democratic Party (VDP) in the State of Vormir. During this time there
were many calls by the party ideologues to scrap the Articles 370 and 35A. When it

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 returned to power in Asgard in 2019 they were again pressurised for their long-awaited
manifesto promise of abrogation of the Articles.
11. On 23 July 2018 Howard Singh the OJP Leader in Vormir withdrew its support to the
ruling VDP. He also held a conference on same day and pointed that Gamora Mufti
has links with terrorists and is corrupt in her practices. She has hollowed Vormir’s
positive aspirations and continuing a government with her party is not possible
anymore. VDP lost majority in the State. The Governor invited VDP to proof
majority, but it failed to do so. Gamora Mufti’s supporters who consider her as the
“Daughter of Vormir” broke into a mass rebellion. On 25 July 2018 Governor’s Rule
was imposed. The rebellion continued and there was continuous stone pelting and
attack on the army and police authorities in the state. Violent protests were
staged against the central government by Gamora Mufti’s supporters. On 24
January 2019 in the morning Thanos Abdullah leader of opposition party, Vormir
National Conference (VNC) held a conference that he will support VDP to again form
government. On the same day by afternoon the Governor of Vormir send a report to
the President for imposition of President’s Rule in the State under Article 356 of the
Constitution of Asgard. Considering ongoing revolt and based on 2016 Assembly
election seat share he anticipated that VDP and VNC cannot proof majority.
Thus, he cited breakdown of constitutional machinery and law and order as
reasons for the same. Presidential Rule was imposed on 26 January.
(Assembly election seat share: Total number of seats- 87 seats, VDP - 25 seats,
OJP - 27 seats, VNC 15 and others 20, required majority is 44.)
12. The Odin Janata party who had been opposing the special status for Vormir for a long
time soon proposed the Constitutional (Application to Vormir) Order, 2019 to repeal
the Articles and called for bifurcation of the state into two union territories that is;
Wakanda (centrally administered) and Vormir (with its legislative assembly) by
introducing the Vormir Reorganisation Bill, 2019. The government used the
“Interpretation clause” of Article 367 of the Asgardian Constitution wherein the
reference to “Constituent Assembly” was to be read as “Legislative Assembly of the
State” and all the references to “Sardar-i-Riyasat” were to be considered as referring to
Governor of the State.
13. Prominent Vormir leaders, including former Chief Minister Gamora Mufti and
opposition leader, Thanos Abdullah were placed under house arrest after imposition of
President’s Rule. Internet and mobile services were curtailed, and Section 144 of

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 Criminal Code of Procedure, 1973 was imposed. Opposition parties protested in
parliament against the Bill and the complete shutdown of the Vormir valley.
Government’s move was criticised as the Reorganization bill breached the 1954
Presidential Order as no consent or concurrence of the Legislature or the State
Government was taken at any point. Further the state was locked down by imposing
Sec. 144.
14. The present government claimed that integrating Vormir with rest of Asgard was
necessary because the former was under-developed with respect to healthcare, poverty,
economic growth as compared to the rest of Asgard and this integration will open
opportunities for them. It also argued that due to presence of the Articles 370 and 35A
there is unceasing uprising in the state it was becoming a brooding ground for
terrorists. It justified its action by saying scrapping of the articles will support “One
Nation, One Constitution” theory and that this will help end violence and enable
people to access government schemes such as reservation, right to education,
ownership and right to information among others which are provided under various
enactments. It also voiced the reason of discrimination being practiced against Vormir
women population as a reason for the ending the special status.
15. The Special Status also creates discrimination with citizens of Vormir and the rest of
citizens of Asgard. The articles prohibit the citizens of Asgard from exercising their
fundament rights in the State of Vormir. Although Vormir is an integral part of Asgard
yet it has a separate flag and set of rules for the people of Asgard who are not state
citizen. Thus, fundamental rights of State of Vormir stand in contrast with those of
Asgard.
16. The sudden abrogation and its procedure invited more than a dozen petitions. The
pleas have been filed by a variety of persons, including lawyers, artists, bureaucrats
and politicians. The petitions have alleged that the Article 370 amendment could not
have been done without the concurrence of a duly elected Constituent Assembly in
Vormir. Gamora Mufti approached the Court against her house detention. Thanos
Abdullah filed writ petition against the imposition of President’s Rule in the state
without giving chance for floor test. The decision to substitute the "Governor" as the
authority to recommend and ratify proposals to change the legal status of the State,
according to the petitioners, is "illegal and unconstitutional."
17. A plea was also made by a Sakaar State Vision NGO, it flagged the issue of freedom
of the press being violated and imposition of Section 144 they pointed out that

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 essential services including ambulances, police and fire services are also not accessible
due to the curfew situation and communication blockade. They claimed that they had
tried to contact the local administration to get news about the status of people living in
State of Vormir, but the "entire Valley seemed to be under detention."
18. The Government has stated that the essential services are not completely banned.
Telephone booths have been established at many places, medical and other necessary
services are also been provided by the government according to allotted time schedule
and only the usage of private services is been prohibited. It further stated that internet
services had to be shunned for it was being misused to intensify the mass rebellion in
the state.
19. The petitions before the court have cited many grounds for challenging the President’s
Order. A substantial question is whether a federal unit can be downgraded from the
status of a State to that of a Union Territory, a move for which there is no precedent.
The constitutional morality of the rest of the country deciding the destiny of a State
without the consent or participation of its citizens is also a serious issue brought before
the courts.
20. The apex court clubbed all the petitions and the following issues are now pending
before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Asgard, to be decided on 16 February, wherein
arguments have to be made on the following issues:

I. Whether the petitions are maintainable or not?

II. Whether imposition of President’s Rule under Article 356 of the Constitution of
Asgard valid?
III. Whether enforcement of Constitution (Application to Vormir) Order, 2019 in the
State of Vormir valid?
IV. Whether imposition of Section 144 of Criminal Code of Procedure and the House
Arrest of prominent political leaders of the State of Vormir valid?
V. Whether the reorganisation of the State of Vormir into Union Territories of Wakanda
and Vormir valid?

Note: The laws of Union of Asgard and State of Vormir are pari materia to that of
Union of India and State of Jammu and Kashmir respectively.

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 Faculty of Law, University of Lucknow, II Campus
Instagram: @lumootcourtassociation Facebook: Lucknow University Moot Court Association Mail: mcc.lucknowuniv@gmail.com